Proper right-angle arm swinging during running so as to save energy and reduce drag is a technique that can be difficult to teach to runners and others. Training devices may serve to facilitate a runner's use of right-angle arm swinging. Such devices may promote the development of muscle memory on the part of runners and other athletes, such that practicing with such a training aid causes the users to reflexively hold their arms at ninety (90) degree angles, forearm to biceps, while they are continuously swinging their arms during running. However, most of the current products marketed to improve running performance address muscle strengthening using resistance devices that are extremely inadequate to improve running speed and endurance if the user is not provided proper technique and form training.
A known runner's aid includes a flat bottom surface, a flat posterior surface and two flat pentagonal lateral surfaces. The surfaces are all jointed together to form one hollow unit. The flat pentagonal lateral surfaces are formed with a pair of parallel horizontal aperture slits and a pair of parallel vertical aperture slits through which banding is threaded. The device is secured to the runner to hold the runner's arm fast in such a manner that the upper arm and forearm of said runner's arm forms a right angle. One device is used on the runner's right arm. A second device is used on a runner's left arm. Such devices apparently attempt to maintain the arms at a ninety-degree angle such that the device acts like a cast to achieve muscle memory. However, such devices have the disadvantage that they lock the forearms to the biceps so as to unduly limit the free range of motion of the arms. Such devices may have difficulty achieving proper and realistic muscle memory.
It is also known that a jogger or runner's aid may increase the endurance of a runner by supporting the weight of his arms as he runs. Such a known device includes a shoulder strap that fits around the back of the user's neck. A pair of end straps is pivotally secured to the ends of the shoulder strap by rings, and includes hand loops and thumb loops at their ends for supporting the wearer's arms. The length of the straps may be adjustable to accommodate different people. An optional pedometer or other type of distance measuring device may be secured to one of the end straps. However, such a device has no apparent benefits for and indeed may be detrimental to training proper arm-swing form and technique.
It is further known to use an athletic device for training the muscles of the upper body, in particular the arm muscles, in the course of running and walking. Such a device includes a vest to be worn by a user, an elastically expandable strap removably fastened in place across a back part of the vest and having at its ends two cuffs for connection to the arms of the user. That athletic device acts on the involuntarily swinging arms during running and walking, creating a constant counter-force that must be overcome by the arms so that the muscles of the arms and upper body are strengthened. Such strengthening devices add little or nothing to or even detract from training the runner's arm-swinging technique.
The following patents are related to training devices for athletes, and the contents of each of the following patents are hereby incorporated herein by reference: 4,337,938; 5,167,598; 4,993,705; 6,202,263; 5,529,556; 6,551,221; 5,441,255; 4,527,794; 4,180,261; 5,176,587; 6,012,993.
Accordingly, there is a need for a simple, cost-effective, yet efficient athletic device that provides an uncomplicated method of improving upper body walking and running mechanics for all ages and levels of recreation and sports.